Nothing to Fear
by Eerie Enigma
Summary: When the team celebrates their return home with a night on the town, they run into an odd new face in the street. Finding that there's potentially more to this wayfarer than meets the eye, they also find it increasingly hard to leave him alone - especially when his curiosity in Raven becomes deadly. As it happens, the biggest nightmares aren't just the ones we face on the outside.


**A/N: Hellooooooooooo potential readers, friends, friendly readers, and/or readers that are friends. I like to leave presentations at the very beginning of each of my works, though I'll be careful not to overcook, over-salt, or over-season this dish TOO much. :P This is an independent work that I've been considering for a good while now. A lot of what you fans of the show are familiar with apply here; canon plot, characters that are in character, yada yada yada.**

**Anyshoe, the objective of my story (besides to entertain those who be entertained) is to pose one of the many interesting ideas that the actual creators of Teen Titans did not. The beginning of this story follows the Titans' return from Tokyo.**

**A thankful shout-out to "The Hidden Girl" for inspiring me to write something for this category.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any other product of DC**

**Chapter 1: When There's Trouble…**

"I already miss the manga stores…" A voice echoed dismally.

"I already miss the exotic food." Another groaned.

"I found that the scenery was quite enjoyable." A sincere voice chimed in.

"I missed not having to cram up in a small vehicle with nothing to listen to but travel songs and bathroom banter." An emotionally suppressed one droned.

The fancy automatic door leading to a gigantic living room slid open with a brief hiss. Stepping through, the first thing that came into view was a bright light shining through a huge glass wall overlooking a familiar city. There were plenty of tall structures in the area that did to be sure, but only one of them resembled a gigantic "T".

The Teen Titans were home.

"Well you guys have to admit," the first one to step into the room had a cape drifting behind him, and a rather gorgeous alien holding his hand, "there aren't a whole lot of exotic places out there that top this one."

And the renowned Boy Wonder was right. Out of all the places for five teen superheroes to bunk up in, no one with a stale mind could imagine a huge alphabetical letter looming over a dozen stories tall on an island off the ocean coast. It was exotic to be sure, and quite frankly, difficult to imagine that every villain they ever fought didn't constantly try throwing themselves against it every time the young residents went out for "patrol" (pizza). It's not like it didn't stick out.

Sure, there were a handful of villains that made runs at it from time to time – Slade, H.I.V.E, Control Freak. A sociopath biker occasionally sprayed suggestive messages and images on the panels with graffiti, a dragon once busted through the roof, and it had even been used by a certain interdimensional demon as a butt rest at one point. But assaults weren't really worth stressing now since most of the recurring criminals were in perpetual "cryogenic solitary" along with the once-prestigious Brotherhood of Evil. Actually, the huge cluster of ice statues made the vault holding them seem more like a museum of notoriety than a correctional facility.

"Aww _yeah_ man, Tower sweet Tower!" Cyborg proclaimed with outstretched arms. "The sweet sound of tech still purring like a box of kittens."

Beast Boy's eyes twinkled as the realization sparked: he hadn't played Gamestation in over two weeks. "Oh MAN, Cy, say that word again!"

The half-bot furrowed his lips with mild confusion, but humored his smaller, miscolored friend. "Kittens?"

"No, no – the other important word!"

"Tech?"

"Good, say it again, without the question-y tone."

"_Tech."_

"Again now, but slower and with more _'ahh'_ feeling."

Realizing he had better things to do than feed Beast Boy's weird verbal cravings, the metal man canceled his command by raising his arms. "Sorry, B. You'll have to find another fanbot for your crazy – this one's all out of service."

As he walked off to see to the neglected building's mechanical needs, a cute alien flew near the green boy's range. "Permit me, Beast Boy. If you badly wish to hear the word once more, perhaps I would be sufficient enough to—"

But his anxiety was bursting at the seams long before she even thought about offering. "That's okay, Star. I'd say I'm motivated enough to play for at least seven straight hours now! Come to daddy!" He launched himself headlong against the huge screen TV on the far side of the lounge room as if doing so was his God-given birthright, leaving the Tamaranian girl with a somewhat dejected feeling.

The small void in her heart was quickly shut tight and replaced with a familiar warm, tingling sensation when a longtime friend who she had just began an entirely new experience with came close to her side and gently nudged her arm. She and Robin exchanged smiles, and then the team leader called over to now technologically-occupied teammates Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Hey, guys," he called. "Fire up the game, and I'll be there in a minute. Winner decides where we eat tonight!"

Sporty chuckles answered him from two different sides of the room. "Awww YEAH, now we're talkin'!" Cyborg's overexcitement almost cost him a two thousand-something dollar security cam he was rewiring, which nearly kissed the hard floor. "_Whoo,_ close…!" He shook it off quick and made his way towards the home theatre, where Beast Boy was already warming up the booth.

Raven, looming around her usual spot at the backdrop of every crowd, eventually just gave one of her locally famous _'I really couldn't give a frak'_ shoulder shrugs, and proceeded out through the door to get reacquainted with the darkest friend she had: her room. Where meditation was concerned, she had missed quite a few appointments with her _other_ important friend; a golden one named _silence._ Happy times indeed. She attempted to picture herself smiling in her head. She failed.

…Happy.

What was she even kidding – she didn't care where the team ate, or when. She always found herself better off imagining that food was only food: a necessity built to sustain one's welfare, and nothing more. And if nothing else, that train of thought at least managed to keep the calories down.

"Someone come knock for me when it's time to go," she mentioned as she headed out. "Gentle knocks. No yelling, please." She touched her head. Yep. Still vibrating like a violently-shaken tin can with marbles inside.

"You got it, Raven." Robin called back. Then, he turned his gaze to a more…intimate member of his team. "So," he started scratching the back of his head, half-noticing his arm locked in between two of Starfire's. "What was your favorite part of the trip?"

In her shyness, her elegant green eyes averted him briefly. "I suppose that would depend…" Her answer was soft and coy. "What was…_your_ favorite part, Robin?" Their faces were quickly covering distance within each other at this point.

"Hmmmm…" he teased her by making it sound like a challenging question. "I think it might've been the time I was running from all those cops on a motorcycle wearing that cool jacket and sunglasses."

His friend's smile diminished into a pout. Clearly Starfire had a moment or so to go before she got a tight reign on the complicated humor of Earthlings. Especially the boys.

"Robin, I do not quite…"

"Or maybe it was when we unveiled the secret behind Brushogun and exposed Daizo. That was sort of my big 'Ace Attorney' moment. …Or maybe it was—"

He was cut short by a soft pair of lips that pecked his cheek. Touching it, he smiled colorfully at the girl's preemptive strike. "Aah, _now_ I think I remember my favorite part…"

Her eyes seemed to dance for snapping him back to his senses. They moved in closer to further elaborate on that "favorite part", but suddenly fell victim to a whole different kind of preemptive strike when Beast Boy literally dive-bombed the moment into pieces. "DUUUUUDE!" He called, shattering the romance panel between the new couple like glass. "Let's get this show together! I've got, like, days of couch-potatoing to catch up on, and me and Cy are getting _hungreeehhh._" That last word hit a really low, awkward note – complete with a dribble drop.

Robin looked kind of steamed at this, but getting a reassuring glance from Starfire, he knew there would be plenty more opportunities to get comfy with their new relationship level. "All right," he stretched his arms in the air, crackling his fingers together. "You guys are in for it. I spent the rest of my vacation conserving my mental energy for this very moment!"

"You sure that's _all_ you spent the rest of your vacation conserving, lover boy?" Cyborg cooed from the peanut gallery, an elbow resting on the top of the couch. The young detective didn't need the time to process the subliminal message even if it was given, as the subjective question was followed by an obnoxious "OOO_OOOOO_OOO" from both the six-foot-seven chrome dome and his fellow agitator Beast Boy.

The young couples' faces were both stricken scarlet at this just before the Boy Wonder made a mad dash for the continuously guffawing metal man. "That does it!" He grabbed a controller and made sure to slam into Cyborg's side on his way down to sit. "You've heated your jets for the last time, Turbo!"

Cyborg raised his human eyebrow to match his sporty smirk. "We'll see, little man – we'll see." Then, as if to throw napalm for the fire, he turned to Beast Boy. "I'm putting Mega Meaty Meat on the table, right here and now."

Beast Boy's carefree expression instantly sullied. It was one thing to suggest a place named after his one and only superhero weakness. It became a complete other thing when the fast food franchise industry discovered the ploy to use alien tofu in all the 'meats' just before the business decided that the 'meats' should be actual _meats._ No way. So long as the green omni-animal continued to live and breathe, no way in Hell would he be forced to set foot in there his first day back from a foreign country. "Dude." He projected darkly. "You. Wouldn't. Dare."

His best friend flashed him a masterful rendition of the Trollface Meme. "…Problem, bro?"

"Yeah!" His forehead made a notable _clang_ sound as it collided with that of the bigger man's metal counterpart. "Until I crush it! Along with all your hopes and dreams!"

"Enough talk! Blood now!"

And so digital forces would clash, that day. And there would indeed be much pixilated blood to be overdramatically shed.

* * *

_**Later that evening…**_

"Yes yes YES! Victory! Justice! _Deliverance!_" Beast Boy threw his fist in the air with a matching stride to herald his triumph. The sun was setting on the coast as the surrogate super family crossed the street towards their destination point.

"I don't know what you're getting all jumpy for. It's not like _you_ won." Cyborg reminded him as they continued to walk. The only one who didn't have her feet planted on the ground was Starfire. Whenever she was happy, she flew. And as it turns out, naturally it was pretty easy to keep her happy.

"Well no," Beast Boy replied, "but I think the point you're missing is that _you_ lost too! No Mega Meaty Meats for you, Mister Meathead!" He enforced his taunt by putting a hand on his butt and shaking it at his annoyed peer in a typical display of Beast Boy banter.

"Keep talking, runt," Cy warned. "I'm getting the Meatlover's Deluxe. And if a certain someone's not careful, a certain someone else's meal might accidentally slide on top of that certain special someone's." This warranted a small squeak from the person of interest, who took the hint and simmered down.

"So long as I'm none of those 'certain special someones', I think I can cope with your trivial pizza war." Raven added in.

"Hey now, don't use the word trivial!" Cyborg opposed. "This is a dispute between men!"

"Oh, is that what we're supposed to be looking at here?" She murmured. "I guess my senses were thrown off by the overwhelming miasma of immaturity." Her statement made her friend growl, but not go much further than that.

The team took the final turn towards their favorite pizza parlor, which as it turned out was trenched right in front of a notorious alleyway, where they had their first altercation with the H.I.V.E. team. Since it was such a popular spot to teen superheroes, crime stood pretty clear of it… Usually.

The stars were already paving the darkening sky, and there were fewer and fewer people walking the streets, save for the age-specific night crowd. Every building around was beginning to switch on their lights.

"Pray tell, why does no one ever wish to exchange these 'toppings of pizza' with me?" Starfire inquired.

"Well, Star…" Robin rubbed the back of his neck finding the right words to say. "When certain mustards go over certain jalapeño peppers that have been layered with certain sugars, it…sorta puts in a kind of—"

Raven cut in with as much subtlety as possible by nudging him. "Your eating etiquette lesson will have to wait." She pointed to an area around the back of the restaurant where a shady figure was being trailed by several others.

Robin acknowledged her interest and nodded to the other Titans, then they all followed in hot pursuit of the obvious trouble. Storming past a few surprised pedestrians, they took a sharp turn through a narrow brick corridor with a single light boasting over it.

Whoever was being chased was doing well to keep the distance between himself and his chasers, but eventually there came a dead end, and his only exit was quickly seized by a group of local thugs. Not a whole lot of muscle to go around, but they were a live, angry-looking bunch, and some of them held painful objects.

"Got nowhere to run now, sprinty." The one in front called, wearing a pair of sunglasses. The cornered shadow turned and scowled. Honestly, who does that? Wears a pair of sunglasses at dusk? "Now you tell me…what was it you said about me having a 'sad childhood'? You stinkin' rotting corpse?"

The figure in front put his hands out in a passive manner. "Aheh. Now now, sir, there was nothing hard meant by it. I just made an observation by the way you and your group battered your way through that long line of people at the restaurant. …And for another thing because now you seem like you're very much wanting to shred me soon."

"Yeah, I think it crossed my mind a couple times there." The delinquent took off his leather jacket and spat the toothpick out of his smirking mouth. "'Cept a body that delicate? Be a real shame to cut to scraps when I can fold it like a pretzel instead." He paused only to crack his knuckles. "Ain't that right, boys?"

Universal signs of approval spilled in from all around. The person on his own just sighed. "Bet it sure feels nice… Having a bunch of support counting on you to do the right thing." He took a few steps from the wall towards his challenger. "It's a shame, too. I came here looking for a fresh start."

He ambled close to the adolescent mob, but advances were cut short from an authoritative voice shouting from behind. "Stop!" Everyone turned towards the team of supers determined to intervene. The group of thugs panicked, realizing that they were now boxed in the exact same fashion that their target was. "Don't you think it's a little past curfew for lowly criminals?" Robin tried to reason…his way.

"Crime never sleeps." The stranger had instantly appeared directly behind the punk that challenged him to a brawl. His face was still sketchy in the limelight, but judging from his ragged trench coat, he came from nowhere pleasant. "…Unlike how this one will."

The motorbiking stereotype in front of him grinned and took a first swing as he spun around, but it met up with a dumpster instead of a face, which gave his hand a really unpleasant surprise. As he bent down to clutch his now puffing red fist, everyone heard a familiar catchphrase from behind.

"Titans! GO!"

The team literally powered their way through the first wave of scum lining the alley like a set of bowling pins. Raven was already on the verge of picking up two with her telekinesis and planting them nicely in the dumpster, and Cyborg had proceeded to ram his foot up another one's nether regional area.

But when Robin was priming his staff to connect against a rather fat brute's face, he was called off by an ungratified voice. In fact, they all were.

"No, no, no, there's no dignity in this." The team looked over at the stranger, who had a bar of iron locked around his angry acquaintance's neck from behind. "I can clean up my own mess. I don't want help from strangers – even the superpowered types!"

"What are you saying?" Robin defied from across the corridor. "You're badly outnumbered!"

"I've managed this far…" His grapple on his enemy was cut short when an elbow flew into his torso, knocking the wind out of his body.

"Starfire!" Robin called up to the Tamaranian floating above. "Hurry! Go fly down and help him!"

She nodded and plunged headfirst into the chaos, but stopped and gasped when she noticed something strange.

Where the two guys had been fighting, the gang leader that had elbowed the stranger was writhing on the ground, coughing and screaming simultaneously. At first it seemed like he was suffocating, but evidence showed differently when he sprang to life and tried to run through the alley from the fight, only to knock down several of his buddies in a show of severe, senseless panic.

The person in rags was coughing a bit too, but when he eventually stood up again, the first thing he did was call up to Raven. "Hey…! Ack-ugh…you!" When he had her attention, he continued. "You're the family psychic, right? Can you wrap all these guys up in a tight ball? I've got an idea that'll end the fight quick."

The Azarathian blinked a few times, perplexed at his request. _'Guess he was awfully quick to change his mind about needing help...'_ When she received a reluctant nod from Robin that it was okay, she closed her eyes and lapsed into her famous trance.

"Azarath Metrion _Zinthos!_"

Every crook on the street flew together like a high score on _Katamari Damacy_. Nodding with approval, the stranger dashed towards the epicenter of the gravitational pull, and took a small canister out of his coat pocket. Before everyone had time to freak out, he pulled the pin on the grenade.

"Wha! What are you doing! This is how you were planning on ending the fight?" Robin barked with outrage.

"Woah! We gotta clear out quick, or the buildings will crush us!" Cyborg called out, but was already well into hauling his bumper.

"Don't worry about that, shield over us!" The boy called up to Raven again. "Keep the gas from spreading to the street!"

"Huh? Gas…?" Raven's newfound panic barely gave her the time and space to process this final request. A huge black field encircled the group of ruffians, and not a moment too soon. A muffled explosion sounded beneath it, and when the sorceress lifted the shield, the spot was greeted by a plume of abnormally colored smoke, around where everyone was coughing violently and blindly staggering around. By the time the coughing had ceased, every juvenile delinquent in the vicinity was out cold.

The only person still standing (if you can call leaning against the wall standing) was the stranger who was thought to have so recklessly endangered every life around.

The Titans rushed in when the smoke subsided, and after Cyborg had checked in with his biometric scan to make sure everyone sprawled around was still alive, Robin didn't spare much time before grabbing the new guy by the folds of his ancient coat and forcing him upright against the wall. "What were you _thinking?_ If that had been what we thought it was, people would've _died_ because that stunt!"

"Huh…" A small smirk graced the otherwise dirtied face of the older boy now in plain view. His features were gaunt, but handsome. Almost to go along with his slender frame, his skin, in the light, was as pale as Raven's. His hair was dark brown – as dark as it could possibly be short of being complete black. His blue eyes glimmered with a mixed sense of mischief and a lingering sense of intrigue as he spoke slowly and softly. "Did you…see the weakness in their eyes…" he paused to get out a few more coughs and a wheezy breath in. "When they thought…they would die…?"

Robin slightly widened one eye with confusion as to why this would be so interesting to someone. After a moment, he answered seriously. "I was too concerned with my friends to pay attention to stuff like that."

He shook his head briefly, and then answered again in that same distinctly soft, smooth voice. "Don't you think…that fear is such a wonderful device to use against wicked people? Don't you think…"

Robin shook him abruptly to keep him awake. "Hey! Stay with me!" When he looked down at where he was gripping, he noticed that the rugged stitchwork in the weird kid's coat was ripping away. He released him gently and let him slide down the wall. The other Titans came in around the Boy Wonder to take a look at the curious new character.

"Why didn't you tell us what you were planning exactly?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah. We could've kicked those other guys' butts easily, without you having to go all kamikaze style on yourself." Beast Boy added.

"AHAH!" The rag-worn transient shot to his feet with such sudden reflex before anyone noticed that every other teen flew back in recoil – Beast Boy chirped a high-pitched scream for added effect. "But then you…" He slumped back down with his head hanging and his knees facing each other, as if his body was being puppeteered by someone with epilepsy. "…You wouldn't have had enough time…to eat…out. Would you?"

This time, Starfire stepped forward and squatted down to his level, but was surprised to find him shoot back and hit a dumpster, obviously more shocked to see her than she was to see him. "Please. I have no intention of hurting you." She reached forward, but it was very clear that he didn't want to be touched. So instead she relented and simply asked curiously, "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Raven looked down at him, but said nothing. She wasn't quite sure _what_ to say, really. All the plausible questions were pretty much already taken, and based on what she had already seen about the way this guy rationalizes situations, she wasn't quite sure exactly how much more she wanted to know. There was that one word of interest that seemed to peek in from the back of her mind. _Fear…_

"Who am I?" Sitting against the dumpster, he grinned as he felt his consciousness slip away. "Hmph. That's a subjective question…" Then, as if he was introducing himself to royalty, he stood up straight with a wobble in his stance, and shot a hand out, which was wrapped around a bandaged, fingerless glove. With a blissful smile, both eyes shut, he answered at once,

"Call me Crow! Pleased to meetcha'!"

Then the delirious boy fell face forward, stiff as a board, before anyone could catch him.

His arm was still laying out in front of him as he splashed into a puddle, his unconscious face buried in the ground. Robin walked over to his side, instantly noticing a scrap of crumpled paper leave his side pocket and drift along the water. He leaned in and picked it up to examine.

"What is it?" Cyborg asked with a hard expression on his face.

Robin unfolded the tab and answered monotonously.

"It's a train ticket. From Gotham City."

**A/N: Riiight. In case you haven't gotten the idea, the main challenge that I am working on here, that also makes my idea a stretch, is a stretch that a lot of you might already recognize: the incorporation of an original character into the plot. A lot of people have done this before, and speaking from the heart quite frankly, these characters do not often reflect a lot of creativity through their personality, looks, or background. I, however, intend to put these elements into practice through the placement of a character strongly related to one you may recognize. (No crossovers, it's just DC, DON'T SWEAT IT.) I put over half a day's thought into brainstorming his qualities, so now that I'm finally content, I'll put it all into action.**

**Please let me know what you think; I'd really like to see that I'm not the only one who believes this idea could work.**


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